Items tagged with Lower Merion
It's been a few months since we heard much from the Lower Merion school district (LMSD) and the allegations of improper conduct, voyeuristic behavior, and civil rights violations leveled against administration employees and the vice principal of Harriton High School, Lindy Matsko. The case and accompanying federal investigation have been percolating for nigh on a year, but the government has finally reached a decision not to prosecute. According to US Attorney Zane David Memeger, investigators have found no evidence of criminal intent by the district's administration. ""For the government to prosecute a criminal case, it must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person charged acted with...
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We've been following the Lower Merion school district investigation ever since a student at the school, one Blake Robbins, was accused of engaging in improper behavior based on evidence captured by his school-provided laptop's webcam. Investigative reports now indicate that the school either lied through its teeth about the degree to which cameras were activated or was negligent—possibly criminally negligent—in exercising appropriate oversight of how the system was being used by the staff who had access. The Story Thus Far When Blake's parents began asking how the school had come by its evidence, the district admitted that it had installed third-party software that allowed it to activate...
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A few weeks ago we covered a controversial case that erupted in Pennsylvania's Lower Merion School district. A student at the district, Blake Robbins, was disciplined for activities that allegedly occurred in the privacy of his own home. The district's evidence for said activities was a photo taken by Robbin's school-issued notebook without his knowledge or consent. Robbin's parents were similarly unaware that the laptops had remote monitoring capabilities and sued the school district for breach of privacy. The school district revealed today that its two IT administrators, Carol Cafiero and Michael Perbix, have been on administrative leave (with pay) since the story originally broke two weeks...
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One of the major news stories of the past week has focused on the Lower Merion school district in Philadelphia and the furor created when the school admitted it could remotely activate student webcams and observe them remotely. One clip from an episode of Frontline that aired in June 2009, however, proves that Lower Merion's Harriton High School is not the only place where students' rights are potentially being violated. The Frontline story in question focuses on how the introduction of laptops and other technology has revitalized a school that was in danger of being taken over by the state of New York. The school principal Jason Levy (pictured below) became principal of IS 339 in 2004 and began...
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It's an acknowledged fact that modern technology, Google and the rise of social networking sites like Facebook have changed the rules when it comes to expectations of privacy. Most of the time, when we hear that these evolving expectations have tripped someone up, it's because an employee once considered a shoo-in for a job was disqualified when the potential employer found distasteful evidence in the candidate's MySpace profile, blog, or previously unmentioned extensive filmography in German and Japanese porn. In tumultuous times like these, it's understandable that employers and employees can both be caught unawares. Every now and then, however, an organization or individual will make such...
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